- / Blog
- / Public Liability Incidents & Claims: What to Do and What Not to Do
Public Liability Incidents & Claims: What to Do and What Not to Do
Today, businesses face a variety of risks. One of the most common and potentially expensive is public liability incidents and claims. Customers, visitors, or contractors can have slip-and-fall incidents or injuries in public places due to unsafe conditions or negligence, resulting in sprains, broken bones, hospital costs, and time off work.
Public liability insurance is specifically designed to protect businesses from expensive legal costs, personal injury damages, and reputational harm when there is a breach of duty of care under the various Acts in each state of Australia. Below are essentials of what to do and what not to do from the time of the incident/accident or if you receive a public liability claim from a law firm.
What is a Public Liability Claim?
An example of a Public Liability claim is when a customer, visitor or contractor working for you or at your premises is injured due to unsafe conditions. You are either notified at the time of the injury (incident/accident), such as a customer having a slip and fall case over a box in an aisle, or you receive a letter from the injured person’s personal injury lawyer sometime after the accident happened.
An injured person can claim compensation for time off work, permanent injury, medical costs, home assistance or modifications, and legal costs related to the premises liability. These can add up to thousands of dollars or millions if the person has severe permanent injuries.
For the property owners to be responsible, the injured person must first show that the residents had a duty of care to ensure the person was not injured. Then, they must prove that their injury was directly caused by the breach of the business’ duty in failing to ensure the person’s safety. Ensuring safety can be signs warning of a slippery floor, policies or procedures to train or induct new employees or contractors, or other risk management measures.
What to Do if There’s an Incident or You Receive a Public Liability Claim
If there is an incident, the first thing to do is complete an Incident Report form to document any injuries or property damage. If you have a personal injury incident or receive a liability claim, it’s best not to respond until you have spoken with an Adroit insurance adviser.
Our Risk Advisers are professionals who will streamline the notification process and work with you to ensure the claim is correctly reported with supporting documents. The insurer will engage specialist public liability lawyers on your behalf, saving you time and money and paying any compensation if you are found to be responsible.
What Not to Do if You Receive a Public Liability Claim
Public liability incidents and claims can be extremely serious. Admitting to the injured person that your staff or something at the business caused the incident/accident, such as a slippery floor, could result in delays or, worse, your insurer not paying the claim. This is because insurance policies always require that you don’t admit responsibility for the injury.
So, we recommend not apologising to the injured person but only providing necessary aid for medical needs or emergencies. While apologising is okay in some states and territories, others consider an apology as meaning that you accept responsibility (liability), even if the customer was later found to be fully or partly at fault.
Any subsequent correspondence or communication from the injured person asking for payment or their lawyers should be discussed with the Adroit Risk Adviser first to address the safety concerns. We can guide you through the appropriate steps and how the cover can support the circumstance.
Risk Management
Many personal injury claims can either be avoided or the severity of the injury reduced. The number (frequency) of incidents can also often be reduced with improved risk management to prevent slip and fall cases and other accidents. Your Adroit insurance adviser is a professional who can assist you with reviewing or implementing a risk management program for your business.
Knowing what to do is as important as knowing what not to do in the event that a visitor, customer or contractor is injured at your business. Public liability insurance protects businesses from potentially high legal costs and expenses. It’s also worth noting that workers’ compensation is mandatory and provides insurance coverage if an employee or some type of contractor is injured. Our Risk Advisers can help you make the most of your insurance coverage. Contact us today to learn how.